Apprentice 101: Seattleite Alex among final 4, despite close call

Published 10:00 pm, Sunday, April 24, 2005

After the 13th episode of "The Apprentice," two Street Smart candidates, Craig and Tana, and two Book Smarts, attorney Alex (Seattle's hometown candidate) and Kendra, advance to the final four.

This week's task: Create an organizational product for cluttered office desks for Staples. The winner would be selected by Staples executives. Magna -- the original Street Smart team now whittled down to Craig, Tana and Kendra won again with a lazy susan desk caddy design. The Staples executives said Magna's product clearly connected with customers and was innovative, and practical and their office managers said they would buy it.

The Staples executive gave a thumbs down to Net Worth's product, created by the two-man team Alex and Bren, called the "Pack Rat," a mobile office desk cart with a clear plexiglass cover that executives didn't like because it made file access difficult.

Net Worth has been in the boardroom so many times most of us have lost count. This time Alex and Bren were left to defend themselves. Trump went after the two lawyers, chastising them for their lousy design. The only two people sold on the "Pack Rat" were its creators, who stood behind their product design. Alex tried to prove his level of conviction by telling Trump he wished he had the rights to market their design. Trump shot back, "You can have them very easily, frankly."

In the end, Alex defended himself better than his buddy Bren. Trump fired Bren after his admission that he wasn't a "risk taker." Trump said although he was willing to be a teacher, he couldn't justify taking on someone at the "kindergarten" level as an entrepreneur. Did Bren really think Trump was going to hire a candidate who confessed to not taking risks? Save those confessions for the confessional, Bren.

Lessons Learned

Pass

Personal integrity. I give Bren credit for not losing his integrity in the boardroom. He didn't try to sell out Alex. I admired that he went into the boardroom with an attitude that he wasn't a "loser" and stood up for their product design.

Give consumers what they want. Magna interviewed a variety of Staples store customers asking for their opinions about what kind of organizational product they liked and for what reasons. They discovered customers preferred the caddy organizational holders. They used that insight to design a new four-sided approach.

Consulting the consumer is critical to new product design.

Meet with the client personally. Magna met with the Staples executives face to face to establish rapport. In Tana's words, "These executives are our judges; if they like you, we have an in." Alex apparently wouldn't have agreed, saying in one of the dumbest remarks frankly that I have heard on this show, "They're not a client. They're just judges." I doubt that is the approach Alex takes with judges in the courtroom.

One critical piece of information that Magna got as a result of their meeting -- that the executives wanted them to improve on an existing organization item versus revolutionizing a new one. Net Worth missed that tip by not meeting with them and subsequently produced a design that failed.

Fail

Disrespectful leadership. Effective leaders do not give feedback in a way that demeans the other person. Craig has demonstrated a pattern this season of continually talking down to the female candidates. He told Kendra he had to speak to her like one of his children, "when I have to repeat myself" and "let me run this by you slowly." When a difference emerged between Craig and Kendra over the product design, as the project manager, he said: "This conversation is over. I am giving you respect that you don't even deserve, young lady." Young lady? Respect is something that is earned. In order to gain the respect of others, you first need to treat others with respect.

Leadership rigidity. Project manager Craig began the project dictating rigid rules for his team. He told Kendra to present brainstorming ideas only on paper. How ridiculous is that? He was neither open nor receptive to her design ideas and, let's face it, Kendra has a pretty successful track record in this arena.

In today's competitive and complex marketplace, effective leaders must create an open, collaborative environment to foster creative ideas and human potential. Craig has proved he does not have the skills to accomplish that.

Meet with the clients (judges) face to face. Face-to-face meetings establish rapport and bonding with customers. Some estimate that between 55 percent and 70 percent of communication is conveyed non-verbally -- both in tone of delivery and body language. You cannot maximize communication clarity and relationship potential by phone. Net Worth's decision not to meet with Staples executives personally to gain clarity about expectations was a mistake.